Sports – Page 285 – North Platte Post Archive

Purdue Holds Off Nebraska 66-54

Posted on February 15, 2015

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) — Vince Edwards scored 15 points and Kendall Stephens added 12 on Sunday, leading Purdue to a 66-54 Big Ten Conference victory against Nebraska in Mackey Arena.

Purdue (17-9, 9-4) pulled back into a second-place tie with 19th-ranked Maryland, each three games in the loss column behind league-leading Wisconsin. The Boilermakers beat Nebraska (13-12, 5-8) for fifth consecutive time in West Lafayette.

Purdue used a 10-2 run that began with 14:54 remaining to take a 48-32 lead with 12:19 to go. That burst included a three-point play from Edwards and a 3-pointer from Stephens.

Purdue also improved to 6-1 in Big Ten home games, losing only to Maryland on Jan. 10. The Boilermakers have conference home games remaining with Rutgers and Illinois and must travel to Indiana, Ohio State and Michigan State.

Shavon Shields led the Cornhuskers with 19, and Terran Petteway added 13.

NPCC Lady Knights Basketball Defeats Doane College JV

Posted on February 15, 2015February 15, 2015

The North Platte Community College Lady Knights defeated the Doane College Junior Varsity Lady Tigers Sunday afternoon 65-50. The game was a make-up game that was originally scheduled for Feb. 1.

The Lady Knights led at halftime 28-26 but outscored the Lady Tigers in the second half 37-24.

The Lady Knights were led in scoring by Aliyah Brown who scored a career-high 24 points. The only other Lady Knight to score in double figures was April Stull with 13 points.

The Lady Tigers were led in scoring by Claire Phillips with 14 points and Karolyn Cahill with 13 points.

Lady Knight head coach Richard Thurin said: “Overall we played a good game. We had a lot of help off the bench. Clara Vinton played well with eight points. Doane pulled four players off of the varsity to play against us.”

Thurin also noted the play of Brown and her 24 points.

The Lady Knights who are now 13-11 on the season will be in action on Friday, February 20 against Region IX Division II opponent Southeast Community College. Southeast is currently leading Division II in Region IX with a 3-0 record. The Lady Knights are 2-1. The Lady Knights need to win by 15 to claim the regular season Region IX championship and gain a bye in the Region IX Division II Tournament. The game will be live streamed on www.coachesaid.com. Tip-off is set for 5:30 p.m. CST.

The game is designated as “Girl Scout Night” and “Elementary Night.”

Huskers Drop Series Finale, 3-0

Posted on February 15, 2015

Las Vegas, Nev. – After posting a 2-0 shutout win on Friday night, the Nebraska baseball team dropped the final two games of its series with UNLV, including a 3-0 loss in the finale on Sunday. Nebraska had the tying or go-ahead run at the plate in both the eighth and ninth innings, but couldn’t get the hit it needed.

Nebraska had the bases loaded with two outs in the ninth, but Brayden Torres closed out the win when he got freshman Scott Schreiber to fly out.

D.J. Myers was stellar in his UNLV debut, as the junior college transfer gave up just three hits and one walk over 7.2 innings, while striking out five. A pair of Rebel relievers finished out the shutout, with Torres picking up the save.

For the Huskers, sophomore Max Knutson struggled in his first career start, lasting just 2.0 innings. Three NU relievers stepped up and kept Nebraska in the game by giving up only one run over 6.0 innings of work, but the Husker offense was never able to find a rhythm.

After Knutson retired the Rebels in order to start the game, he issues a leadoff walk in the second and then gave up a double to Edgar Montes. Nick Rodriguez did his job with an RBI groundout that gave the Rebels a 1-0 lead. Payton Squier then lifted a shallow fly ball into left field and Christian Cox made a spectacular diving catch for the out, but Montes was able to tag up and race home to give UNLV a 2-0 lead.

Knutson got into trouble again in the third when he issued back-to-back walks to start the inning, which forced Head Coach Darin Erstad to turn the ball over to the bullpen. Junior Jeff Chesnut stepped into a pressure situation and calmed the waters for the Huskers. Chesnut kept the Rebels from adding to their lead with three straight outs, including a great play from Blake Headley on a groundball where the NU third baseman cut Joey Swanner down at the plate.

Nebraska didn’t create its first scoring opportunity until the fourth when Ryan Boldt broke up Myers no hitter with a one-out single to center field. Boldt was then in scoring position following a groundout, but was stranded there when Myers struck out Tanner Lubach.

The Rebels caught a break in the seventh when Rodriguez lifted a low line drive to center field that looked to be caught by Boldt, but he lost the ball in the sun, resulting in a triple. Squier followed with an RBI double that pushed UNLV’s lead to 3-0.

The Huskers had the tying run at the plate in Austin Darby in the eighth following a pair of two-out walks, but Hartman shutdown the situation with strikeout looking.

Blake Headley got a rally going with a two-out single in the ninth that was followed by consecutive walks to load the bases. Torres came in and got the final out to end the game.

The Huskers will head back to Lincoln for a few days before returning to the Southwest on Wednesday with a trip to Peoria, Ariz. The Huskers open a four-game series against BYU on Thursday at the Peoria Sports Complex, the Spring Training home of the San Diego Padres and Seattle Mariners.

The Huskers and Cougars open the series on Thursday at 2:05 p.m. (CT), then play a doubleheader that starts at 1:05 p.m. on Friday before wrapping up the series on Saturday at 1:05 p.m.

No. 22 Nebraska Women End Skid, 70-63 over Wisconsin

Posted on February 15, 2015

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Natalie Romeo scored a career-high 21 points and Tear’a Laudermill added 20 and No. 22 Nebraska ended a three-game losing streak with a 70-63 win over Wisconsin on Sunday.

All three of the losses came against ranked teams and after the Cornhuskers (18-7, 8-6 Big Ten) lost standout guard Rachel Theriot to an ankle injury suffered in practice.

Romeo, a freshman, making her fifth start and third straight in Theriot’s absence, hit 7 of 11 shots with three 3s.

Wisconsin (8-16, 4-10), which has lost seven of eight, got 16 points from Nichole Bauman and 15 from Jacki Gulczynski.

Nebraska led by 13 midway through the first half but the Badgers rallied to trail 33-32 at the break.

Wisconsin took an early lead in the second half but a 13-0, with Laudermill and Romeo combining for 11, put the Huskers back in control, 50-39 with 12:52 to play.

NPCC Knights Softball Splits Doubleheader with Murray State College

Posted on February 15, 2015

The North Platte Community College Knights Softball Team spit a doubleheader with the Murray State College Lady Aggies on Saturday losing the first game 6-4 and winning the second game in convincing fashion 14-0 in five innings. The win was the Knights first win of the season and puts the season record at one win and seven losses.

In game one, the Knights jumped out to an early two to nothing lead on runs by Caroline Motis and Shannon Lieber. In the second inning, the Knights added one more run when Sara Villalobos doubled to left field driving in Motis for her second run scored for the game.

The Lady Aggies scored one run in each of their half of the third and fourth inning with runs by Haley Dixson and Kenzi Clapp. The Lady Aggies took the lead in the bottom of the fifth when Rachel Noble hit a two-run home run scoring Aubrey Wooden.

The Knights tied it up in the sixth at four when Motis scored her third run of the game.

The game remained tied until the bottom of the seventh when Bryanne Knox singled to left field and then scored on Wooden’s walk-off home run.

The Knights were led offensively by Caroline Motis, who reached base three times and scored three runs. Baileigh Oleson pitched six innings, allowed four earned runs on eight hits, two home runs and striking out six to take the loss.

Murray State were led by Wooden, who had three hits, including the game winning home run. Jordan Dabney was the starting pitcher for the Lady Aggies. Dabney pitched 5.2 innings allowing six hits and two earned runs. Dabney struck out six. Kaitie Miller pitched 1.1 innings of relief to get the win.

The second game was all Knights. Brittney Odum hit a three-run home run in the first inning scoring Caroline Motis and Audrie Conner.

The big inning came in the fourth when the Knights scored eight runs. Knights scored on a two-run single by Shelby Clark, a two-run double by Tara Crouch, a two-run single by Jessica Jarvis, an RBI single by Caroline Motis, and an RBI single by Shannon Lieber.

The Aggies only managed to get one hit off of Knights starter Shannon Lieber. Lieber pitched five innings and struck out four.

Andrea Quiroga, Jarvis and Motis each had two hits for the Knights. Jarvis had four runs batted in. Motis also had a stolen base.

The Knights are in action next when they travel to Borger, TX to participate in the Frank Phillips Tournament on Feb. 20 – 21.

Tri-City Earns Shootout Win In Sioux City

Posted on February 14, 2015

SIOUX CITY, Ia. – The shootout tandem of Chris Wilkie and Cody Milan propelled the Tri-City Storm (26-11-5) to a 3-2 win over the Sioux City Musketeers (28-11-4) on Saturday night at the Tyson Events Center.

Wilkie also scored his 24th goal of the season in the second period, while Garrett Gamez had a power play tally for his 11th of the year.

Storm netminder Jared Rutledge made 37 saves through regulation and overtime, before stopping both attempts he faced in the shootout to get the win.

The game was scoreless through the first 20 minutes, but Tri-City earned a power play with five seconds to go in the frame that carried over to the middle period.

Just 49 seconds into the second, Wilkie blasted a puck past Musketeers’ goalie Collin Olson to make it 1-0. It was the second power play goal of the weekend for Wilkie, who continues to lead the USHL with 13 goals on the man-advantage.

Sioux City tied the game 1-1 at 12:54 of the period with a power play goal of their own by Neal Pionk.

1:05 later, Gamez put the Storm in front 2-1 with another power play goal.

Tri-City forward Mason Appleton had the first assist on both tallies.

After Sioux City’s Joel Janatuinen hit the crossbar on a penalty shot at 16:06, the Musketeers re-tied the game at 2-2 on a goal by Robert Carpenter at18:11.

In the second period there was a combined total of 14 penalties, including a double minor to Tri-City’s Joel Herbert for checking from behind, a major head contact penalty to Sioux City’s Jake Durflinger and a flight between Durflinger and Mattias Goransson.

The game stayed even through the third period and overtime and led to the Storm’s sixth shootout victory of the year.

Tri-City gained one point on the Musketeers in the Western Conference, and sits in second place with 57 total points. Sioux City is the top team in the USHL, earning 60 points in 43 games.

Next week the Storm will take on the Lincoln Stars in a home-and-home series on Friday and Saturday, before heading back to Sioux City for a Sundayafternoon battle. Friday and Saturday’s games start at 7:05 p.m., while Sunday’s contest gets underway at 3:05.

Notes: The Storm scratched forwards Nolan Aibel and Wade Allison, along with defenseman Gordi Myer and goaltender Alec Dillon…

SCORING SUMMARY

1st Period
(no scoring)

2nd Period

Tri-City – Chris Wilkie (power play) (Mason Appleton, Bobby Nardella) 0:49
Sioux City – Neal Pionk (power play) (Adam Johnson, Robert Carpenter) 12:54
Tri-City – Garrett Gamez (power play) (Mason Appleton) 13:59
Sioux City – Robert Carpenter (power play) (Joe Snively, Jake Ryczek) 18:11

3rd Period
(no scoring)

Overtime
(no scoring)

PENALTIES

1st Period
Sioux City – Jacob Wilson – (Holding), 2 min, 19:55

2nd Period

Tri-City – Garrett Gamez – (Checking From Behind), 2 min, 3:11
Sioux City – Jake Montgomery – (Hooking), 2 min, 4:33
Tri-City – Joel Herbert – (Checking From Behind), 4 min, 10:51
Tri-City – Joel Herbert – (Checking From Behind) (Game Ejection), 10 min, 10:51
Sioux City – Sam Kurker – (Slashing), 2 min, 12:32
Tri-City – Mason Appleton – (High Sticking), 2 min, 12:41
Sioux City – Joel Janatuinen – (Checking From Behind), 2 min, 13:55
Sioux City – Jake Durflinger – (Head Contact), 5 min, 16:53
Sioux City – Jake Durflinger – (Head Contact) (Game Misconduct), 10 min, 16:53
Sioux City – Jake Durflinger – (Fighting), 5 min, 16:53
Sioux City – Jake Durflinger – (Fighting) (Misconduct), 10 min, 16:53
Tri-City – Mattias Goransson – (Fighting), 5 min, 16:53
Tri-City – Mattias Goransson – (Fighting) (Misconduct), 10 min, 16:53
Tri-City – Dan Labosky – (Checking From Behind), 2 min, 16:53

3rd Period
Tri-City – Garrett Gamez – (Checking From Behind), 2 min, 7:27

Overtime
(no penalties)

Power Play

Tri-City – 2/4

Sioux City – 2/6

Shots

Tri-City: 8, 10, 6, 1 = Total: 25
Sioux City: 10, 16, 10, 3 = Total: 39

Saves
Tri-City – Jared Rutledge – 37/39
Sioux City – Collin Olson – 23/25

Iginla, Tanguay Score, Avalanche Beat Stars, 4-1

Posted on February 14, 2015

DENVER (AP) — Alex Tanguay had a goal and an assist, Semyon Varlamov stopped 24 shots and the Colorado Avalanche beat the Dallas Stars 4-1 on Saturday night.

Jarome Iginla and Nathan MacKinnon had goals for the Avalanche, who snapped a four-game skid.

Jason Spezza scored and goaltender Jhonas Enroth had 26 saves in his first start since being acquired from Buffalo on Wednesday.

Dallas came into the game short-handed. Leading scorer Tyler Seguin is out 3-6 weeks with a knee injury suffered in Friday night’s win over Florida, and Ales Hemskey and Patrick Eaves were also out.

The injuries are a big blow to the Stars’ playoff hopes. They came into the night three points out of the last wild card spot but have a tough schedule ahead.

Curry Wins 3-Point Contest, LaVine Takes Dunk Competition

Posted on February 14, 2015

NEW YORK (AP) — Stephen Curry bested Golden State Warriors teammate Klay Thompson and six others to win his first 3-point contest, and Minnesota’s Zach Lavine put on a spectacular aerial display to take home the dunk competition during All-Star Saturday night.

Curry scored 27 points in the final round. He connected on 13 consecutive shots until missing his final attempt, bringing fans and celebrities roaring to their feet after every swish at Brookyln’s Barclays Center.

Thompson, who had an opening-round best of 24, scored only 14 points in the final round. Cleveland’s Kyrie Irving finished second with 17 points in the three-man final.

LaVine, the 19-year-old Timberwolves rookie, scored a perfect 100 in the opening round highlighted by a threw-the-legs, one-handed reverse slam on his first attempt. He had a final round of 94 to overtake Orlando’s Victor Oladipo, who struggled to convert his first attempt and finished with a 72 in the championship round.

Silver Seeking ‘Dramatic’ Improvements in NBA Scheduling

Posted on February 14, 2015February 14, 2015

NEW YORK (AP) — Commissioner Adam Silver is determined to make a schedule that keeps NBA players fresh, and he is willing to discuss starting the season earlier or ending later.

Change could come as early as next season, with fewer stretches of games on back-to-back nights, or four in five nights. He says Saturday during his All-Star press conference that he is concerned with the wear and tear on players.

Silver says he believes the league can make “dramatic” improvements in those areas.

Just beginning his second year in charge, Silver says his priority is improving the game, where much of his early successes were on off-the-court areas.

But business couldn’t completely be ignored, with Silver acknowledging the league and players association are early in discussions about how to handle to the influx of revenue coming when the new TV deals kick in in 2016.

NPCC Knights Lose to Western Nebraska on the Road

Posted on February 14, 2015

The North Platte Community College Knights lost to the Western Nebraska Community College Cougars on Saturday afternoon 83-65 in a National Junior College Athletic Association Region IX South Sub-Region contest.

The Knights fall to 20-6 and 10-3 in Region IX play. With the loss the Knights drop to second place in the Region IX South Sub-Region standings behind Northeastern Junior College. The Cougars are 12-15 overall and 8-6 in sub-region play. The Cougars are currently fourth in the sub-region standings.

The Cougars jumped out to an 11-4 lead with 16:02 left in the first half. The Knights rallied to tie the score at 20 with 11:31 to play in the half on a field goal by Cameron Williams. The Cougars went on another run to take the lead 34-25 with 5:38 to play. The Knights went on an 8-0 run to close out the half and only trail at halftime 34-33.

In the second half, the Knights had the lead with 13:03 to play 50-47. The Cougars then went on a 16-2 run to retake the lead 63-52 with six minutes to go on a three-pointer by Chase Mason. Mason hit four three-pointers down the stretch to put the game out of reach.

The Knights were led in scoring by Cameron Williams with 22 points to lead all scorers. Two other Knights scored in double figures: CJ Polk had 14 points and Matt Thomas had 10 points. Marco Pascolo had six rebounds to lead the Knights.

The Cougars out-rebounded the Knights 46-27. Another key to the game was that in the first half the Cougars committed 14 turnovers and only had four in the second half.

The Cougars were led in scoring by Preston Christensen with 20 points. Chase Mason was next in scoring with 19 points. Mason scored 16 points in the second half. The third Cougar to score in double figures was Diante Mitchell, who finished with 14 points. Davis Carter led the Cougars in rebounding with seven.

The Knights travel to Cheyenne, Wyo. on Wednesday, Feb. 18 to play Laramie County Community College. Laramie County is currently third in the South Sub-Region with a 9-4 record. Tip-off is set for 7:00 p.m. CST.